Characterization and antimicrobial resistance of vaginal microbiota in mares from Lagos and Oyo States, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of budget implementation on performance: a comparative analysis of six Southwest states in Nigeria over the period of 10 years spanning from 2012- 2021. This is done specifically to explore the effect of capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure, statutory allocation and intervention fund on per-capita income in Nigeria. Ex-post-facto research design was employed in the study because the data were obtained secondarily from National Bureau of Statistics. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Finding revealed that capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure, statutory allocation and intervention fund have positive and significant effect on performance in Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states respectively. It however revealed that capital expenditure and statutory allocation have positive and significant effect in Osun state, while capital expenditure and intervention fund was discovered to portrayed a positive and significant effect on performance in Ondo state, and the study further showed that statutory allocation and intervention fund have positive and significant effect on performance in Ekiti state. The implication of this result is that Lagos state as well as Ogun state and Oyo state have shown an exemplary example in its budget implementation which significantly affected performance, the role statutory allocation and intervention have been judiciously used and channeled to respective quarters in the case of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states whereas, the reverse is the same in Ondo, Osun and Ekiti States, as such, statutory allocation and

Laying hen farming is an important sub-sector of the Nigerian livestock industry as it provides significant proportion of the needed animal protein to the populace as well as creating employment opportunities. Despite the significance of the laying hen industry to the national economy, farmers are usually faced with a lot of risks and uncertainties such as heat stress, flood, fire outbreaks, theft and unpredicted damages. They pose serious threat to the success of the laying hen farming enterprise in Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed in selecting Laying Hen Farmers (LHF) in Lagos and Oyo States. The first stage was the purposive selection of Lagos and Oyo states in South-west (SW) being the highest poultry production areas in the SW, Nigeria. The second stage involved the selection of six Local Government Areas (LGAs) from Lagos state and eight Local Governments from Oyo state. The third stage was the random selection of one hundred and ninety-eight (198) and three hundred and nine (309) laying hen farmers selected from Lagos and Oyo State, respectively, giving a total of five hundred and seven (507) laying hen farmers selected for the study. Majority have access to credit facilities (87.1 %) and extension services (84.7 %), while there was poor access to insurance across the locations. The most prevalent production risks among the LHF were attack of predators, pest and disease infestation. Age, education and livestock insurance reduced the probability of exposure to production risks, while household size, access to extension and distance to residence increased the probability of LHF exposure to production risks. Educational status, flock size, access to livestock insurance and access to credit significantly increased TFP, while farming experience, feed quantity, hired labour and extension access reduced TFP. The probit results show that age, household size, education, access to resources and insurance significantly affect production risks.

The study investigated the accessibility and usability of reproductive health information and the attitude of female adolescents with hearing impairment towards reproductive health practices. A survey research design and multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 155 female adolescents with hearing impaired in Oyo and Lagos state respectively. Two research questions and two hypotheses were generated for the study. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.71. Communication barrier, cost, and resources and negative societal attitude were found to influence accessibility and usability of reproductive health information by female adolescents with hearing impairment also; accessibility of reproductive health information has significant relative influence on the attitude towards reproductive health practices. The composite effect of accessibility and usability of reproductive health information was found to be significant with attitude towards reproductive health practice of female adolescents with hearing impairment. The study therefore concluded that access to and usage of reproductive health information could lead to healthy reproductive lifestyle. Based on the findings, female adolescents with hearing impairment should be given equal access to adequate reproductive health information and professionals should make concerted effort to develop a positive attitude towards persons with special needs. Keywords- Accessibility, hearing impairment, information, usage, reproductive health

The African forest, which was and still is the heart of biodiversity, is fast losing its bio-components due to natural disasters and human encroachment. A catalogue of the bio-components of the African forest is imminent so that conservation programs can be established to safeguard rare germplasm(s) from extinction. The population density of wild Auricularia (Mushroom) of Southwestern Nigeria was the focus of this research. DNA primers were obtained from Operon Technology, Alameda, California, USA. Characterization was done using phenotype, PCR and electrophoresis gel (RAPD). OPB-11 to OPB-21, OPH-3 to OPH-15, and OPT-1 to OPT-19 primers formed polymorphic bands with DNA samples of the specimens. Three (3) distinct species of Auricularia were identified in the forest of Southwest Nigeria based on PCR and RAPD analyses. Geospatial analysis showed that Auricularia auricula was present in the forests of Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Oyo and Lagos states, but none was identified in Ondo State. On the contrary, Auricularia polytricha was only identified in the tropical rainforest and grassland vegetation of Ondo, Lagos and Oyo states.   Key words: Auricularia, mushrooms, population density, Southwestern Nigeria, phenotypic description, genome similarity index.

To determine the treatment success rate among TB patients and associated factors in Anambra and Oyo, the two states with the largest burden of tuberculosis in Nigeria. A health facility record review for 2016 was conducted in the two states (Anambra and Oyo). A checklist was used to extract relevant information from the records kept in each of the selected DOTS facilities to determine TB treatment success rates. Treatment success rate was defined as the proportion of new smear-positive TB cases registered under DOTS in a given year that successfully completed treatment, whether with bacteriologic evidence of success ('cured') or without ('treatment completed'). Treatment success rate was classified into good (≥85%) and poor (<85%) success rates using the 85% national target for TB treatment outcome. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square at P<0.05. There were 1281TB treatment enrollees in 2016 in Anambra and 3809 in Oyo (total=4835). An overall treatment success rate of 75.8% was achieved (Anambra-57.5%; Oyo-82.0%). The percentage cure rates were 61.5% for Anambra and 85.2% for Oyo. Overall, only 28.6% of the facilities in both states (Anambra-0.0%; Oyo-60.0%) had a good treatment success rate. More facilities in Anambra (100.0%) than Oyo (40.0%) had a poor treatment success rate (p<0.001), as did more private/FBO (100.0%) than public health facilities (60.0%) (p=0.009). All tertiary facilities had a poor treatment success rate followed by 87.5% of secondary health facilities and 56.5% of primary healthcare facilities (P=0.035). Treatment success and cure rates in Anambra state were below the 85.0% of the recommended target set by the WHO. Geographical location, and level/tier and type of facility were factors associated with this. Interventions are recommended to address these problems.

The Internal Migration and Livelihood Strategies of the Benue Children and Youths in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States in Nigeria Due to Ripple Effects of Global Economic Downturn

Sustainable provision of safe access to potable water has continued to be a major challenge across the world. Water samples were collected from water bodies at Awba Dam and National Horticulture Research Institute (NIHORT) in Ibadan, Oyo State and the Ogun River in Lagos State. The aim of this study was to gauge the conditions of these frequently used water bodies. The locations were selected based on surrounding population and activities. Sampling was done in the months of April and June, 2021. The physicochemical parameters analysed were pH, electrical conductivity (EC), salinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Average salinity value ranged between 0.2675 ± 0.14 mg/L (UI) and 0.6735 ± 0.22 mg/L (Berger). These values are quite high and significant when compared to the threshold level of 0.0000001 mg/L. Of the three sampling points, the samples obtained from Awba Dam at the University of Ibadan seem to have the better quality in relative terms. This follows from the BOD and TDS values of 3.75 ± 0.28 mg/L and 259.7 ± 156.89 mg/L respectively. This study shows that the mismanagement of our waters through unrestrained and unrestricted dumping of contaminants into it has caused these water bodies to have poor quality and should not be used for the purpose of consumption unless properly treated. The presence of aquatic plants that take in some of these pollutants and release oxygen may also help improve quality.

Objective: This study aimed to assess maternal health service readiness and availability in primary-level facilities in Nigeria. Methodology: A facility-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Jigawa, Lagos, and Oyo states in Nigeria. We included Kiyawa and Dutse LGAs in Jigawa state, Lagelu and Ibadan Southwest LGAs in Oyo State and Ikorodu LGA in Lagos State. In total, we included 43 PHCs and 13 TBAs across all 3 states. The WHO Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) form was used as the model for the data collection instrument. Result: According to our data, there is a significant shortage of healthcare human resources across PHCs in the 3 states. Most PHCs and TBAs in the three states offer prenatal care services and prescribe iron supplements and folic acid. Additionally, most of the facilities lack essential equipment. Moreover, most TBAs in this study lack Infection, Prevention, and Control (IPC) materials, and they also do not offer intermittent preventive therapy (IPTp) for malaria and tetanus toxoids to their clients. Conclusion: Following the WHO health system building blocks, to construct composite units across different domains, this study revealed that the Nigerian government must collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure provision of a minimum standard of care in terms of health infrastructure, human resources for health and service provision at all PHCs across the country.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is associated with substantial economic losses in the fish industry and with food-borne illness in humans. This study aimed to determine the incidence and antibiogram profiles of multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from diseased Clarias gariepinus. A total of 384 diseased Clarias gariepinus that showed clinical signs of red spots and hemorrhages on the pectoral fin were sampled from commercial fish farms in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo States, Nigeria. Samples of fin, liver, kidney, and gill were taken from diseased C. gariepinus. Samples were subjected to bacteriological examinations and isolates were identified based on morphological characteristics, biochemical tests, and 16S rRNA gene characterisation. The retrieved isolates were tested for sequence analysis and antibiogram profile. The incidence of K. pneumoniae among the examined diseased Clarias gariepinus was 61.7% (237/384). The highest prevalence was observed in the gill (32.9%). The percentage of K. Pneumoniae isolates in diseased C. gariepinus from selected Southwest states were; Lagos State 46.8%, Ogun State 78.1%, and Oyo State 60.1% (p > 0.05). The phylogenetic analyses revealed that the tested K. pneumoniae strains shared high genetic similarity with other K. pneumoniae strains from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, USA, Spain, Bangladesh, and China. Antibiogram profiles revealed that 100% (120/120) of the retrieved K. pneumoniae strains were MDR to four different antimicrobial classes (penicillins, tetracyclines, nitroimidazole, and macrolides). This is the first report to reveal the occurrence of MDR K. pneumoniae in diseased C. gariepinus, an emergence that represents a risk to public health.

Morphological features of chicken genetic resources must be carefully identified and considered in developing breeding strategies. The study was carried out to determine the frequencies of morphological features in indigenous chickens of South-Western Nigeria, using Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo States as case study. Five major chicken markets (Mushin in Lagos State, Itoku and Ipokia in Ogun State, Olu-ode in Osun State and Molete in Oyo State) were used as study locations and three thousand, three hundred and thirteen chickens were observed in the five locations. Ipokia had the highest number (1,549) of chickens and Molete had the least (307) number of chickens. The traits observed included: feather structure, feather distribution, feather morphology, plumage colour, ear lobe colour, skin colour and shank colour. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics and inferential statistical analysis was also done for the results using chi-square test. It was observed that for those traits that recorded significant variation, there had been selection for these traits due to the high market value attached to them by attaching preference to some of its variants which were observed. Knowledge and well documentation of the potentials of indigenous chickens can help provide crucial information for a comprehensive breeding policy and full utilization of the animal.

The increasing rate of insecurity in Nigeria, especially the southwest requires a paradigm shift from popular approach to crime hotspots detection. This study employed geospatial technologies to integrate spatio-temporal crime, social media and field observation data from the communities in all the six states in the southwest to develop crime hotspots that can serve as preliminary information to assist in allocating resources for crime control and prevention. Historical crime data from January 1972 to April, 2021 were compiled and updated with rigorous field survey in September, 2021. The field data were encoded, input to the SPSS 17 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. A total 936 crime locations data were geolocated and exported to ArcGIS 10.5 for spatial mapping using point map operation and further imported to e-Spatial web-based and QGIS for the generation of hotspot map using heatmap tool. The results revealed that armed robbery, assassination and cultism were more pronounced in Lagos and Ogun States. Similarly, high incidences of farmers/herdsmen conflicts are observed in Oyo and Osun States. Increasing incidences of kidnapping are common in all the south-western states but very prominent in Ondo, Lagos and Oyo States. Most of the violent crime incidents took place along the highways, with forests being their hideouts. Violent crimes are dominantly caused by high rate of unemployment while farmer/herdsmen conflicts were majorly triggered by the scarcity of grazing fields and destruction of arable crops. The conflicts have resulted in the increasing cases of rape and disruption of social group, intake of hard drugs, cult-related activities, low income and revenue generation, and displacement of farmers and infrastructural damages. The study advocates regular retraining and equipping of security agents, establishment of cattle ranch, and installation of sophisticated IP Camera at the crime hotspots to assist in real-time crime monitoring and management.

The role of business incubation in fostering entrepreneurship and SMEs development has generated a strong interest among policymakers in recent years. Even among scholars, there is a general consensus that entrepreneurship is pivotal to economic growth in both developing and developed countries. This study investigated the role of business incubators on entrepreneurship and SMEs development in Nigeria. The population of this study comprised of 60 incubatees in Oyo and Lagos State National Board of Technological Beneficiaries (NBTI). Yamane formula was employed to determine the sample size. The sample size for this research study was 60 respondents (30 incubatees in Oyo State and 30 incubatees in Lagos State). The sampling validity was used to access the validity of the data. The study made use of statistical tools which include: analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation efficient in testing hypotheses where applicable. The responds gotten from the questionnaire was sorted, coded and the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analysis. This study found that business incubation coaching has a positive significant on human capital management towards entrepreneurship performance and also revealed that incubation business knowledge has a positive significant on the sales turnover level of entrepreneurship performance. This research has shown that 70% of the all startup ventures that survive the first three years of operations passed through the incubation programs. The study recommended that the incubation centers should emphasize more on their coaching and technical knowledge, as the result of findings shows that coaching and technical knowledge acquisition contributes 61.3% and 73.6% respectively towards entrepreneurship performance in terms of human capital management and their productivity performance level.

This study analyses the dimensional effects of the three basic dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive) of social capital on the performance of manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos and Oyo states, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design, and data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire, copies of which were administered to 914 purposively selected out 3200 manufacturing SMEs in Lagos and Oyo States, Nigeria. The result of the multi-linear regression analysis showed that there is a positive relationship between the three dimensions of social capital and manufacturing SMEs performance. The result also showed that structural dimension of social capital (p&lt;0.05), relational dimension (p&lt;0.05) and, cognitive dimension (p&lt;0.05) have statistically significant effect on manufacturing SMEs performance. It was concluded that structural, cognitive and relational social capitals significantly predict manufacturing SMEs performance. Therefore, it was recommended that manufacturing SME owners should strive to use these dimensions of social capital to improve their performances.

PurposeThe economic recession that Nigeria recently passed through caused distortions in economic and well-being of Nigerians. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the economic recession on households’ demand for basic foodstuffs in Southwest Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 380 respondents drawn from urban areas of Lagos, Osun and Oyo states using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System were employed to analyze data collected.FindingsThe study showed sharp increase in the prices of basic foodstuffs during recession. Households were compelled to spend higher percentage of their monthly income on basic foodstuffs. Also, 51.1 percent of the respondents were government workers who experienced inconsistent or modulated monthly salary during the period. The percentage of households that were food insecure was 36.4 percent. Osun State had the highest monthly per capita expenditure (₦5,147.13) on foodstuffs, followed by Lagos and Oyo states while rice had the highest expenditure share (0.26), followed by yam (0.18), beans (0.106), vegetable oil (0.104) and garri (0.101). The breakdown also showed that 11.7, 18.1 and 17.7 percent of the total household monthly expenditures in Lagos, Osun and Oyo states, respectively, were spent on basic foodstuffs.Research limitations/implicationsThere purchasing power of naira reduced significantly during recession, thus compelled households to spend more on basic foodstuffs compared to similar purchases before economic recession.Practical implicationsThe reduction in purchasing power of naira affected the formal and informal sector. Irregular salary for civil servants reduced their expenditure on goods and services.Originality/valueThe study is original and topical, serving as literature of accounts that transpired among the households as far as demand for basic foodstuffs is concerned during the economic recession.

Nigeria poultry industry is fast growing to meet the demand of the increasing population with overdependence on antibiotics for production leading to consumer safety and public health concerns. The antibiotic use in poultry farms and presence of gentamicin residues in chicken eggs from city markets of Southwest Nigeria were investigated. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 45 poultry farmers to determine the patterns of antibiotic use, knowledge of withdrawal periods and food safety implications. Furthermore, 270 egg samples from six retail markets in Oyo and Lagos states were analyzed with ELISA for gentamicin residues. Residue concentrations were compared with Student’s t test and ANOVA (p &lt; 0.05). About 90% of the respondents reported they frequently administered antibiotics, 85% engaged in non-prescribed medication, and about 80% did not observe a withdrawal period before selling the eggs from treated chickens. In addition, 60% and 80% of pooled eggs from Oyo and Lagos states, respectively, contained gentamicin residues with means of 1461 ± 74 and 1350 ± 92 µg/kg, respectively. The mean residues obtained from the two states were higher than the maximum recommended residue limits. High levels of gentamicin residues, from unbridled use of antibiotics in poultry production, detected in retail eggs from markets rendered the eggs unsafe for human consumption. Therefore, regulatory control and veterinary supervision of antibiotic use are advocated to ensure Nigerian consumer protection.